For the Love of You
by euphoricglucose
Summary: Rated T for violence, descriptions of gore sexual references and fluffy romance. Long standing story, nearing completion. Probably five to ten chapters off from being done. I try to post often, but with school and club, it can be tough some times. All OC cast, independent story taking place parallel to Junjuo canon plot. NOT LEMON
1. What their Eyes Consist of

Makoto couldn't help but laugh at Ryosuke as he failed to complete the last stage of Galaga; having one last ship to fly and use to defeat the twenty-five enemies before him would surely be impossible, he knew he didn't stand a chance without another ship at his side. As his last hope blew up into oblivion, he tossed the controller carefree on the ground and sighed, irritated by Makoto's cackling.

He picked up the slab of fatty tuna on his plate.

"That was horrible!" Makoto shouted, after swallowing, as he doubled over laughing hysterically, "No talent whatsoever! Here! Give me the controller and I'll so what it means to actually beat the high score!"

Ryosuke snatched up the controller before Makoto could get his hands on it.

"No way, that didn't count!" he hissed, "I was just showing you an example…!"

Ryosuke pressed a button and went back to the main menu, pressing start and continuing to play the game. Makoto came up from behind him, grabbed his stomach and started scratching. Ryosuke lost control of the ship and was hit by an enemy shot, he didn't seem to care that much because he was too busy trying not to laugh.

"You—! You idiot…!"

Makoto scratched Ryosuke's stomach harder and harder until he managed to get him to the floor. They were both dying of laughter.

"Stop it! You idiot! I'm serious—!"

Ryosuke clenched his right hand and aimed a punch to Makoto's face, but missed by a long shot. Makoto gripped his wrist; the cheerful smile on his face gradually disappeared. They were both suddenly silent. His fingers softly caressed Ryosuke's wrist, admiring the slenderness. It was so quiet, they could hear the whirling of the fan, the cawing of the seagulls, and the ocean waves crashing together.

Ryosuke tugged his arm back, but Makoto wouldn't let go.

"…"

"…Let go of me…" he demanded.

"…"

Makoto couldn't take his eyes off of him as he squeezed his wrist harder. His fingertips felt numb while massaging his palm. "Let…" Ryosuke couldn't finish, as if accepting that trying to convince Makoto to let go was futile. For a long while, their eyes never left looked away.

That silent look in their eyes, the deep timid sparkle. Ryosuke didn't know how else to get out of this situation, but Makoto just let himself fall right into it. Kind of like he was floating, that the earth's gravity wasn't going to hold him down anymore. And if Ryosuke were up there with him, he'd still be looking at the ground.

Makoto took in a breath and let Ryosuke's hand go. The awkwardness was too much to bare for the both of them.

"Um… it's getting pretty late," Ryosuke noticed, rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe you should go home…"

"Y-Yeah…"

"…"

Makoto stood up from his seat on the floor, grabbed his phone and walked out of Ryosuke's bedroom. Quickly, he came back in to get his backpack next to the dresser. "Sorry, by the way…" and he closed the door behind him.

Rolling his eyes, Ryosuke stood up and went to the window. He moved the blinds out of the way, just enough so Makoto wouldn't see him. He watched him as he left through the front door and jogged through the yard and down the street. Immediately, he closed his eyes and sighed, regretting kicking Makoto out so early after school.

His own private thoughts made him blush, his thoughts about Makoto. It wasn't cute either. It wasn't a soft pink like a healthy outdoors glow, it was beet red. The thoughts made him blush harder until he was scarlet and roasting hot. This wasn't even the first time thoughts like this occurred to him. He'd forgotten about them, but when Makoto held his hand like that… they just… came flooding back again. For a while, he took to wearing make-up to cover it, but it burnt through all the same. A thicker layer would only crack or age him by twenty years and so he was stuck with the tormenting blushes.

"Don't apologize… you idiot." Ryosuke mumbled.


	2. Corruption

Makoto was talking to himself again, a common habit of his.

"Dinner!" he shouted to the dry ocean air, "What's gonna be for dinner? But I'm hungry now, so what should I eat before dinner? Something wet, like mochi… mochi…? What about kakimochi? Fancy tuna for tomorrow."

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and set his backpack on the ground. He unzipped the first zipper and began to rummage through it when he realized that he didn't recognize the clean text books, or the neat looking folders that held unrumpled homework papers. This wasn't Makoto's backpack, which was usually a cluttered mess.

He looked at the name tag sewn on the inside: Nakajima Ryosuke

"No!" Makoto cried, "I took his bag by mistake… can't help that they look alike."

But what went through his head, he couldn't help but think...

 _Ryosuke's soft pink lips coming closer and closer until they touched his own. They liked it. And his black, onyx eyes… he could get lost in those eyes…_

Makoto stopped, feeling his face flush. He shook his head vigorously. His heart was beating through his chest. He wanted it to stop. Stop, make it stop, make it stop, make stop.

"What…" He breathed. Makoto felt his forehead. "What was that just now…? What… was I thinking…?"

It was just that. Thinking of how soft and slender Ryosuke's hands were, how his pale skin seemed to be, how it glowed. It's like he just fell into a trance… just… into a trance.

"No…! That's why I…" Makoto continued to mumble to himself as he took small steps along the sidewalk. He threw his backpack over his shoulder. "Ki… ki…" he wanted to say the words himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt it would hurt his pride too much.

"Hey, Makoto…" said a familiar voice. Just as he turned around, a pair of lips touched his, gentle and cherry flavored. Startled by this, Makoto jumped back, arms up in the air, voice incredibly high with shock.

"D-Dad! W-W-W-Why!?" Makoto shrieked, his face rapidly turning red.

His father, Kaito, laughed it all away. Makoto felt a sudden shiver crawl down his spine. Father's aren't supposed to kiss their sons on the lips like that. At least not anymore, he was seventeen now.

"Ha! Makoto, I expressed the word you were just saying!" he smiled. Makoto shot his father a death glare and continued walking, head down and broad shoulders arched. Kaito ran to catch up to him.

"That's not funny, Dad." Makoto used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the cherry flavored mess on his lips, "You're way too old to still be kissing your son on the lips."

Kaito frowned, saying, "What? It doesn't matter to me how old you are!"

"It's not something to brag about either…" Makoto sighed. Kaito patted his son's broad shoulders.

"Hey, Makoto! What was that all about?"

"What?"

"The, _'ki'_ you were saying to yourself?" he asked.

Makoto turned away, feeling his face, yet again, grow red with embarrassment. As if he could ever tell his father how he felt or what he was thinking about. Especially that. Of course, with Makoto assuming this, he also realized how his father was the type to laugh at anything serious. But something like this was way too embarrassing.

"You've got amazing perception…" Makoto said, eyes narrowed. "It's amazing that you'd hear something like that."

"Don't you think your dad is spontaneous?" Kaito asked, attitude full of pride.

"Yes, in some ways, I do." Makoto said, "But what I was saying was ka- _ki-_ mochi… I thought I'd grab a snack before dinner."

Kaito's shoulders slumped.

"All we get is kakimochi…?" Kaito asked, disappointed. "No fancy tuna?"

Makoto chuckled, smiling for the first time since he left Ryosuke's house.

"Where were you?" asked Riku, stomping her foot.

She crossed her arms, staring daggers at Kaito and Makoto, though Makoto didn't understand why he had to be in trouble with his father. After all, this was his writing assistant and editor. They were sitting on their knees with their heads down. Riku glared down at the both of them.

"We went on a walk!" Kaito exclaimed, nervously.

"You… went for a walk?" asked Riku, pushing up the bridge of her glasses, "Where?"

"D-Down on the beach… Right, Makoto?" Kaito nudged his son's arm.

Makoto nodded, though Riku wasn't buying Kaito's story. She turned to her godson, giving him a look. As serious as she was, her physical appearance noted otherwise. She was small for a woman in her mid-thirties. Her professionalism allowed her to dress in a dark purple feminine business suit and even a tie. Her chestnut colored hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"Makoto…?"

"Okay, here's the truth." He began with his hands up innocently. "I admit that we went on a walk down on the beach and we hit that tiny convenience store by the boardwalk. We only had a little money on us, so we had to con some poor girl into buying kakimochi for us."

He held up a small plastic bag of the kakimochi crackers, then tossed it in his father's lap. Gawking at the evidence before him, Kaito was in complete shock. He grabbed Makoto by the head and started rubbing his fist in his hair.

"You traitor! Cruel child! _Evil_ child!"

"Ow!" Makoto cried, "Cut it out!" he closed one eye to take the pain.

"Mr. Takabayashi…" Riku said in a calm voice. Makoto and Kaito turned to her, "If you ever decide to escape again, I'll kill you."

Riku only said this because Kaito seriously needed to finish his draft on the new novel he was writing and the transcripts were due two weeks from today, but Kaito seemed to get bored with possible writer's block and snuck off when he could, thus running into his son.

"But…" Kaito thought out loud, "Since my opponent is Riku… I'll just escape and have nothing to worry about!"

"We'll see about that!" Riku gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. She swiftly ran forward with the intention to hit Kaito in the face, but Kaito grabbed her arm and flipped her over, landing on the carpet with a loud _thud._ Quickly, Riku stood back up and charged again. Kaito punched her so hard in the gut, she doubled over, letting drool fall out of her mouth. Makoto scooted back in disgust.

"Whoa—some drool came out!" he cried. Kaito could do nothing else but laugh. Until he stopped, he bent down to Riku's level and said, "You need work, Riku…"

The frail woman wiped her mouth in attempt to stand up, but failed.

"You…! This isn't over!" she coughed, "I won't let you escape! You can't bail all this work onto me! And since we're friends, I'll let that punch slide…!"

As Kaito continued to gloat, Riku stood up, nearly losing her balance and grabbed Kaito's collar. She dragged him into his office.

"No!" Kaito said, still smiling. "Makoto! Save me!"

Riku shut the door behind them. Makoto sighed.

"What's with those two?" he asked out loud to no one in particular. "Every single time..."

He laughed as he picked up Ryosuke's bag and walked to his bedroom.


	3. Too Much Time Has Passed

Ryosuke's breathing was heavy from the ride he was on. He turned the corner on his bike, bent over to breathe and continued to ride down the empty street. Barely anyone comes to this part of town, only, because not many lively people live here. Houses are occupied and business is well enough to run small shops. Ryosuke happened to be going to the one that his family enjoyed very much.

He stopped and took out his ear buds, loud rock music filling the air. A small old woman came from behind the counter holding two plastic bags. She had just finished tying her black hair into a bun on the top of her head.

"Hello, Mrs. Hara…" Ryosuke breathed. He felt the sweat running down his neck and back. The old senile woman smiled politely, handing him the bags.

"Hello, Ryosuke. It's been a while since you came by." She greeted. "Is Souta doing alright?" Souta was Ryosuke's older brother, and one of his favorite people in the world. He's moved out months ago into the city to pursue his schooling. He only had a few more years to finish and he would come back to where his family was.

Ryosuke reached in his pocket and pulled out the money he owed Mrs. Hara.

"Yeah, he visits from time to time, but he's fine." Ryosuke said. He held the bags in his hands, walking out of the front door.

"Thank you!" the woman said and Ryosuke was off pedaling again.

The more Ryosuke rode his bike, the more the bags shook in the front basket. He rode past the old park where he and Makoto met for the first time. His eyes couldn't help but take a quick glimpse of it. The place was falling apart by the day. The chains on the swing were too weak to hold anyone on. The slide was a rusty death trap and the sand was no longer light and fluffy, but hard and rocky. Weeds grew around the entire park; it looked impossible to remove them all.

His stopped on his breaks, out of breath, lungs begging for air. He rummaged through one of the plastic bags and fished out a bottle of water. He downed the entire thing in a minute. His legs were numb from the nonstop ride. He jumped off his bike and walked it back to the old park. He slumped down on the bench, gazing at the ugliness of the setting. Truly, he was disappointed.

After all… this place still held the memory of when Ryosuke and Makoto locked lips by accident. Both six years old and arguing over the swing. They both climb in the seat and started laughing like lunatics. When they were up too high, Makoto panicked and slipped in the seat, kissing Ryosuke on the lips for three short seconds.

This park was merely a memory of him and Makoto when they were children. Seeing the place of the memory in a condition like this brought on nothing but… guilt? Why guilt? Is it because of the way handled the situation with Makoto yesterday? Why was guilt weighing on his shoulders? Maybe this is how their friendship would look after the years go by. Dry, dead, unwanted, forgotten.

Ryosuke reopened the bottle and tried to absorb the last few droplets of water from the bottom. Getting frustrated, he clenched the bottle in his fist.

 _I'm… I'm not a pervert…_

He tossed the bottle in the sand pit. He clicked his tongue. He knew all he would have to do now is stand up, get the bottle and throw it away. That's exactly what he did.

 _I might've stopped it… but even if I didn't that doesn't make me a pervert._

After tossing the empty bottle in the trash, he caught the feeling of the ocean breeze cooling off his body. Ryosuke walked over to the fence that divided the park and the beach. He closed his eyes, enjoying the coolness.

"But I'll always think…" he said to himself, "…'he's so warm'."

Then he started to think about that unkempt backpack that was still sitting in his room, untouched. He wanted to look through it, the folders, the binders, the notes. Maybe he would find something about him in there that he wasn't supposed to see. But it wasn't his bag to look through.


	4. What My Heart Seeks Is

_Ryosuke and I…_

Hibiki got another hole-in-one. Makoto stomped on the evenly cut grass and swung his putter in the air angrily like a sword. Hibiki ducked low to the ground.

"You got another one, Hibiki!" Makoto cried. Hibiki wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Great, it's my volley this round too." He said.

"Damn, how'd I end up with a double bogey?" Makoto whined.

He set the golf ball on the ground and got in his stance to take a shot. The hole was only five yards away. "If I lose another round, they'll have to put Death by: Hibiki-demon-hands on my will!"

"If you want to win," Hibiki said, scraping dirt out from under his finger nails, "Stop going easy on me before the hazards—!"

"Quiet! Quiet!" Makoto shook his hand in the air, "My hearts always going on full swing!"

He was focused, like a dog patiently waiting for food. Makoto smiled.

"Yes, I've got my plan!"

There was a loud thumping closing in on the two boys. Hibiki and Makoto both turned around, seeing Ryosuke dribble a basketball on the grass. He paused and held the ball in his hand.

"Jeeze! You're like a pair of old men!" Ryosuke shouted, his brows furrowed. "Why don't you play basketball? Basketball! The number one court is miraculously empty—!"

"I'll use this angle to get the ball in!" Makoto interrupted.

Ryosuke, seeing that Makoto wasn't even paying attention to him, grew angry. He clenched the ball in between his hands and walked backwards, taking small steps.

"Here I go!" Makoto was about to take his hit, but the basketball that Ryosuke was holding was thrown at the back of his head.

"Whoa!"

Hibiki ducked down again, covering his head. He stared at Makoto with wide eyes, mouth agape. Makoto turned around with fire in his eyes, only to have his backpack thrown in his face.

 _Not a thing has changed between me and Ryosuke…_

"Yo!" Ryosuke cheered with a smug look on his face, "Idiot pair! Did the basketball kill you? Are you bleeding all over this perfect lawn yet?"

"You _bastard!"_ Makoto screamed, "That hurt you idiot! You're going down, you hear me!? Whether it's golf or basketball or whatever, it's a match!"

The ball rolled back over to Ryosuke. He picked it up and started spinning it on his middle finger, intentionally flipping Makoto off.

"Excellent," Ryosuke smiled, still smug, "Since your hollow head is your only defense, I'll be able to mutilate you beyond recognition." Makoto grew hot with anger all over again. He broke off into a run after Ryosuke.

"Don't use big words I don't understand!"

"Ah! Save me, Hibiki!" Ryosuke laughed as he headed for the basketball court.

With one last sigh, Hibiki gathered his golf clubs and trudged out of the golfing area and to the basketball court. The three of them played against each other, dribbling the ball and shooting free throws until the sun started to set.

"Hey, guys!" Hibiki called from the distance. "I gotta go home now!" he started to walk off, waving his goodbye. Ryosuke and Makoto looked up from the one on one game they were having and smiled.

"Okay!" they both said in unison. They continued to play.

 _Since Ryosuke is acting very casual… I'll be even more casual, behaving like usual. Ryosuke is normal and I am normal. Everything was just the way it was. Just as if nothing ever happened…_

Ryosuke lost the game, and to his surprise, the bet that went along with it. Makoto bet that if Ryosuke lost, he would give him a ride home on the back of his bike. Makoto was whistling happily as Ryosuke struggled to pedal up the steep hill. He gritted his teeth and clutched the handle bars.

"Damn, you're heavy…!" he mumbled through his teeth. "This is what you get for eating nothing but that fatty tuna…!" He forced himself to put in more staggering effort. Makoto stuck out his tongue.

"Can't help it, since you lost." He said, rolling the dirt between his fingers. He flicked it away and turned his head. "And it's not fatty tuna! I only get the fancy kind. Fancy! Fancy tuna, say it with me! _Fan-see_!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Ryosuke breathed. Finally, they were riding on a level street. After a few moments, Makoto broke the silence.

"Hey, Ryosuke?"

"Yeah?"

"You're pretty popular in school, so why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Although the question was a bit random, Ryosuke thought hard about how to answer his question. He laughed at his immediate thought.

"Because each and every one of them is ugly and stupid." He smirked. Makoto faced the back of Ryosuke's head, his black hair flowing in the gentle breeze.

"What?" he laughed, "Isn't that Watanabe girl cute?"

"Oh, right!" Ryosuke said, remembering her from his class. "Yeah, I see her every once and a while… she is cute, isn't she? But super scary when she's angry." Ryosuke tried to let the silence take place again, but he felt he had more to say. "But I'm… happy with the way things are! Without all the romance stuff. But the next time there is a match, you'll get your ass handed to you!"

Makoto smirked, leaning his head on Ryosuke's back.

"If you say so…"

 _Yes. As if absolutely nothing happened._

The rain took the atmosphere down to the level where you get tired just by looking at the gray skies and puddle on the street. Makoto had been asleep since ten o'clock the night before and it was almost eleven thirty the next day. He walked out of his bedroom and trotted down stairs into the kitchen. Kaito was in his office, next to the living room, the floor littered with crumpled notebook paper. He had a solemn look on his face as he stared at the almost screen in front of him.

Makoto looked in the oven and found that Kaito had made him breakfast a while ago. Biscuits, eggs and bacon kept warm by the oven. He removed the plate and searched for a fork. It was so quiet, you could hear the silent impact of his father typing.

"Hey, Dad?" Makoto asked, picking at his scrambled eggs.

"Hm?" he answered, not putting much of an effort into it. He didn't take his eyes of the screen.

"What's it like when you're writing?"

Kaito opened his eyes a little more, a surprised expression on his face.

"Mm? Like?" he questioned.

"Don't you do it… daily?" Makoto turned to look out the window, feeling his face grow hot with embarrassment. He set the breakfast plate down on the counter. "It's not like I don't get to spend time with you… but it goes without saying that you're always doing it. But what if one day, you weren't able to write anymore? How would you deal with it?"

Kaito didn't have a thought in his mind.

"…Writing?" he asked, as if he wanted to make sure. Makoto nodded, feeling his sweaty palms.

"W-Writing!" Makoto's voice cracked.

"Um, that's a good question!" Kaito cheered. "Makoto, that a look at this!"

Kaito looked around the office until he found the paper framed on the wall. He grabbed it off the hook and jogged into the kitchen. Makoto raised an eyebrow as he read to himself:

 _Look into the window._

 _It was a mourning mirage until the day the glass shattered._

 _Then a hundred different pieces created a distorted picture that made more sense than none._

 _The shards killed the face that I remembered._

 _The reflection was ugly, a lost identity._

 _Swimming with sharks, of course you'll get bit._

 _The deeper and darker waters were always more dangerous._

 _But that's the way you liked it._

 _Anchored to your own opinion, sinking._

"Did you write that?" Makoto pointed to the paper in the frame. Kaito shrugged.

"You're mother once wrote it on a napkin and threw it away," he said, "I stole it out of the trash and kept it from her since." He pointed to the bottom left corner of the frame.

 _-Mayori Takabayashi_

"What did she mean by this?" Makoto asked, "I don't really understand…"

"Well there's not much to it," Kaito got closer to the frame then finally set it down on the counter. "In this society of uncertainty, no two viewpoints will never be the same. Your mother knew that what seems beautiful to the other person might be painful for the other. I expect this to be known for many more generations…"

Makoto stood in his thinking stance, thumb under his chin and brows knitted together.

"But that's not the only distinction." He pointed out. "One's own view point depends on their state of heart. If that changes, the 'one truth' differs accordingly."

"You're right about that…" Kaito agreed. He noticed the confused look that Makoto carried.

"…The 'one truth'…?"

Kaito patted his son's shoulder.

"You have to feel it for yourself. Sometimes even if you search your heart, you may not find the answer you're seeking. Ultimately, 'one's truth' may blind one's heart. Then you start to question yourself, see?" Kaito took the frame and placed it above the sink in the window. "So! Your mother had a way of putting it!"

"I get it now…" Makoto said.

 _Ryosuke…_

"Wait, how does this relate to my question about your writing?" he asked, arms folded, "How was my topic derailed?"

Kaito, growing anxious, started involuntarily scratching the back of his head. The muscles of his lips twitched then formed into a smile.

"Mn!? Ah! W…Writing! I don't consider myself an expert on language arts!" Kaito laughed. "Really, I'm still such an amateur."

"No, you're just too self-conscious." said Makoto. He grabbed his breakfast plate and ran up to his room. "Thanks, by the way!"

He closed the door to his room, quickly falling asleep after he finished his late breakfast.


	5. Chasing An Incomplete Dream

The rain had ceased to fall the next day. Makoto came to school earlier than he expected, so the first thing he thought to do was to catch a few more minutes of sleep before his first class began. He plugged in his music and heard nothing but hard rock for the next ten minutes or so.

"Seek answers from your heart, huh?" Makoto said to himself. His eyes darted around, making sure no one was to hear his outer thoughts. "…Hm… Kissing Ryosuke at that time… I didn't do it by mistake. No matter what caused me to act on it then… For him… I'm sure I've always been…"

Ryosuke noticed Makoto laying in the shade under the tree. His eyes were closed and his music was blasting. How long had he been asleep?

Without thinking, Ryosuke cleared his throat and walked triumphantly over to Makoto.

"Hey!" he called, "Makoto! When did you get here? Are you sleeping?"

He stopped when he was standing directly over him. Makoto removed his ear buds and squinted in his eyes. He was wondering why it was so bright now…

"Oh, Ryosuke." He said nonchalantly.

"…"

For a short minute, neither of them said a word. Makoto couldn't take his eyes off of Ryosuke. They felt they had nothing to say. If so, what were they to say? What were they going to do if the other didn't start? Surely, Makoto would want to go first. He wasn't sure if Ryosuke felt the same. Even if Makoto was sure of his own feelings, he had nobody to ask who can tell him about how Ryosuke feels about it.

"I'm gonna head to class." Makoto said with a sigh. He ruffled his hair to get the grass out, his head now damp from the wet ground.

"No, aren't you hungry? Let's get something to eat."

"That reminds me," Makoto said, "You owe me five dollars from last time, don't you remember that?"

"Relax, I didn't forget that. After all that tuna…" Ryosuke said, "But I brought these!"

He pulled out of his pocket two red bean buns sealed with plastic. He tossed one to Makoto. Immediately, he tore open the wrapping and took a huge bite out of it.

"Wow, these are sweet." Makoto said with a mouthful. He continued to eat, then he noticed how Ryosuke had silently slipped his back into his pocket.

He noticed Makoto's staring and said, "I don't eat sweets…"

Makoto nodded, taking a small bite. They both sat back down under the tree. Yet, neither of them talked, though both of them desperately wanted to. Ryosuke took out a book and started flipping through it. He laid on his back reading it while Makoto tossed a tennis ball in the air, playing catch with himself.

"Hey, remember that time when we went out with Noda to that diner and he started hitting on the waitress?" Makoto asked, smiling hoping that the memory would bring a smile to his friend's face. Ryosuke didn't take his eyes off the book.

"Yup, he's an idiot." He said plainly. He turned the page.

"A true idiot!" Makoto laughed, "I can't believe he actually said that to the waitress! 'Can you wash my pants daily?'" Makoto doubled over on the ground, laughing harder and harder.

Ryosuke rolled his eyes. Makoto dropped the ball he was tossing in the air, watching it roll under Ryosuke's leg.

"Jeeze, I know I dared him but I didn't think he'd actually do it!" Makoto crawled over to Ryosuke. He sat up with the book on his chest.

"Yeah, but you kind of went too far with that dare—"

Ryosuke cut himself off upon seeing Makoto reach down under his leg. His heart skipped a beat, and automatically, he kicked Makoto square in the face.

"GAH! WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Ryosuke cried.

Makoto skidded at least three feet from where Ryosuke was starting to panic. He rubbed the temple of his head, glaring at Ryosuke. His breathing become erotic, like he just came back from one of his bike rides. He scooted away from Makoto.

"What the hell's _wrong_ with you!?" he shouted, holding up the ball, "I was just getting the damn ball!" he began to rub his cheek, trying to make the pain go away.

The panic look from Ryosuke disappeared when coming to face the facts. But what was he thinking? That Makoto would do something as to… well even he didn't know. Just being that close to him was just… sending shivers down his back. And even worse was that his face showed that he was thinking of something else. All the blood in his face rushed to his cheeks, making him blush. It would've been an even bigger giveaway if his nose started to bleed.

Ryosuke turned away from Makoto.

"You… You confused me, you idiot!" he started wiping his face, trying to make the crimson fade go away and the sweat. Then, Makoto grossly narrowed his eyes. That's when he got the idea that Ryosuke was thinking of. He smiled.

"Oh… No, you _couldn't_ have…!" Makoto suddenly figured it out. "Tell me what you were imagining, Ryosuke, you pervert!"

Ryosuke glared at him.

"Shut up!" he demanded. "It's not my fault for misunderstanding! What you did to me… at that time…!" Makoto was taken aback. He seriously thought that, after all those years ago, that he'd forgotten. He surely hasn't. Neither of them have.

It was that accidental kiss on the swing set.

"Oh… Um… I thought… You'd forgotten about that." Makoto said.

"Well… It's just that time… I did forget about it—"

Makoto couldn't help himself any longer. He jumped forward and clung his arms around Ryosuke's neck, embracing him. Ryosuke didn't know how to react. He was still shocked, but he wasn't about to kick him in the face. Makoto's face was nuzzled deep in the nape of Ryosuke's neck. He felt a wave of heat flow over him.

"Then… can you forget this too?" asked Makoto, desperate. He hugged him harder.

"Ah…um…uh…" Ryosuke didn't know if he could say anything. He was still in shock.

Anything to make this situation even better. How he felt about all of this, what happened back then and what was happening now… It wasn't right, but it was right at the same time. It was right for them.

And all together, Ryosuke started to calm down.

 _Makoto's…_ He thought, _this is Makoto's scent. Wait. Is this my scent?_

As he started feeling light headed, Makoto released his grip around him, and cupped his face. They both had their eyes closed. Ryosuke felt this heat coming back, the blushing, and the possible nose bleed.

 _Ugh! I don't know anymore, they're getting mixed up! But… this can't happen! I'm a buddy! Makoto is a buddy! A_ male _buddy!_

When Ryosuke opened his eyes, he saw a pink pair of lips headed his way. He shoved Makoto's chest and pushed him away. He fell on his back, hitting his head.

"Get away from me!" Ryosuke cried, standing up, "What the hell are you doing!?" Makoto didn't say anything just yet. He just rubbed the bump on the back of his head. "Were you seriously gonna kiss me!? Are you insane? Aren't we both guys!? That's… that's… that's _gross!"_

"…"

He regretted those words the moment they came out of his mouth.

 _Ah, shit…_ He thought.

Makoto grabbed his backpack then stood up. Ryosuke couldn't help but notice that shadowy darkness glooming over his head. He started to walk away, but stopped and turned, saying, "Sorry… I didn't realize you felt that way." And continued walking.

Ryosuke was left with the most shock. He couldn't get what was in his head out of him until Makoto was long gone.

"After that awkward hug," he mumbled to himself, "I just started talking nonsense."

And he knew what he was talking about.


	6. The Light In Your Eyes

When Makoto woke up the next morning, Kaito was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He walked to the dining room table and slammed his bag in the chair. Kaito jumped at the sight of him. Makoto looked like he hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep. His eyes were red, his skin white like a sheet, and hair tousled from the endless tossing and turning. Had he not even bothered to brush his teeth?

"Whoa! You look like a ghost!" Kaito cried.

Makoto's shoulders slumped. Him being titled as a ghost didn't make the situation better, it only seemed to drown out the life in the atmosphere. The dark cloud that floated over his head was positively depressing.

"Makoto! You're so pale! Head up to your room and lie back down!"

Kaito ran out of the kitchen and proceeded to aid his son. With both hands on his shoulders, he guided him to the stairs. The depression was getting worse; so worse, that Kaito was expecting mushrooms to pop out of his head.

"Ah… Dad… I'm heading out…" Makoto slurred. He slipped out of Kaito's grip and hovered over to get his bag. He dragged it on the floor as he headed for the door. "I'm… going to school… bye…"

Kaito was in complete shock.

 _What in the world happened to Makoto? Was it the advice I gave him!? Was it that bad?_

He only wished he could keep a closer eye on him at the school, but Makoto didn't seem to get any better as the day went on. He shut almost everybody out and didn't feel like eating anything. He sat by the window, resting his head on his arms.

Makoto knew how this day was going to be like. All that thinking about how it was no different for him and Ryosuke, how nothing's changed… at that moment, it couldn't be anymore further from the truth.

"Hibiki!" Ryosuke called as he walked into the classroom. He held a basketball in his hand. "You're still eating?"

"I'm almost done." He replied. The sight of Ryosuke almost made Makoto slam a fist in his face, but he simply glared at them from afar.

"C'mon, let's go play!" Ryosuke said, spinning the ball on his middle finger. Hibiki finished chewing his food and swallowed, taking a small sip to go down with it.

"Sorry, dude. I've got a committee meeting after this." He started looking around the room for a familiar face. He smiled when he saw Makoto. "Look, go hang with Makoto. You can have that rematch you wanted."

Ryosuke and Makoto's eyes met. Feeling a sense of disgust, Makoto stood up and walked out of the classroom. He wanted to be alone, so the empty chemistry classroom seemed appropriate. He sat at the desk closest to the window and laid his head down. Suddenly, as if the world didn't want him to be left alone, he heard knock on the door.

"Eh?" the feminine voice said, "Makoto? What're you doing in here, are you eating alone?"

Makoto looked up, surprised to see Emi Watanabe, along with another student, Noriko Nakamura, stride their way into the classroom. They both grabbed a chair and sat themselves in front of Makoto's desk. He laid his head back down toward the window.

"Oh, hey Watanabe… Nakamura." He lazily greeted.

"It's Emi." That was Watanabe. "Call me Emi."

"Yeah, we're classmates, so Noriko's fine."

Makoto nodded in his arms, "Right… Emi… Noriko, sorry. And what you said about lunch… Yeah, I'm not in the mood to." Although now that he realized it, Makoto really was hungry. He was desperate for some fancy tuna.

"Eh? Why not?" Noriko asked.

"It's…this person…" he felt he couldn't elaborate on who the person he was thinking of. Even as he felt himself blush, feeling the need to say "person" was more appropriate than "guy" or "boy". He didn't know how a person like Emi or Noriko would react. And he couldn't lie to them and tell them it was a girl he was thinking of.

Emi was quite charming, funny, and Noriko is the first person to break up a fight, following up with a hot temper—but really, could they understand? Would they understand? "It's this… one sided love."

Emi and Noriko glanced at each other. They couldn't help but smile when he said that. Makoto being in love? When does that ever happen? Noriko leaned forward in her chair, seeing if she could get more info out of him.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked.

"Who is it? Someone spurned you! Hahaha!" Emi laughed.

Makoto felt the discomfort in his chest and couldn't help but sit his head up.

"That's not funny… Emi, Noriko..." He was back to being the glum he was when he actually was rejected. Literally. Finally, their laughter faded away as they noticed how serious this was. His fist were clenched tight.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Makoto." Emi said.

"Yeah… that was cruel." Noriko added.

"No, I'm fine…" he replied with a quiet laugh. "It's just that… they said it would be gross… to be with me."

Noriko's jaw dropped and Emi was speechless. How could they comfort someone with a broken heart? Especially someone like Makoto who was always so cheerful and considerate. A real idiot at times, but even more considerate. Emi's eyebrows knitted together. Now who could ever be that cruel to someone brave enough to confess their love to them? A selfish, heartless, person. That's who.

Emi touched the top of Makoto's clenched fist.

"There's nothing gross about you, Makoto." Emi said lightly, "It's all right. I guarantee you it'll be okay. And as for that heartless girl, forget about her."

"'Course, we still love you." Noriko added. "If she's that cruel enough to send you down in the dumps like this, she doesn't deserve you."

"…"

"Makoto?"

"…Yeah," he said with a breath, "Thank you… Emi… Noriko."

He stood up from his desk in the corner of the room and walked into the hall. Just as he turned to head down the stairs, he caught a glimpse of Ryosuke leaning against the wall, talking with Noda. He stopped at the top of the stairs and quickly turned the corner.

It scared him. For a second, he thought that Ryosuke saw him sneaking around. If things keep going about like this, Ryosuke could think that Makoto was stalking him. Honestly, he was trying to avoid the cruel bastard.

"Jeeze, that was close." Makoto breathed. He saw the both of them smiling. He peeked around the corner. What were they talking about?

"Then do it!" Ryosuke jeered, "Say I'm wrong!"

"How about the name of the director?" Noda said, "You don't know it either!"

Makoto leaned against the wall reliving a heavy sigh.

"What the hell I am saying?" he thought to himself, "I'm… damn it." He clenched his fist and walked back down the hall, regretting each step he took.

"But dude, seriously," Noda started walking toward his class, "Mind if I watch you practice? I've got nothing to do, but we can hang out when you're done."

Ryosuke felt hesitant, but he answered him like nothing else was bothering his state of mind, "Anybody else wanting to come?"

"You mean after your practice?" Noda asked. He tilted his head to the side, slightly. He started counting on his fingers as he said, "Well, it's just you, me and Hibiki. I already asked Makoto, but he said he couldn't come."

"Cool then, follow me to the gym after class."

Ryosuke entered into his next class, taking his seat. The only reason he almost declined Noda's offer was because he knew that a certain someone would be going along with them. Right now, he couldn't be around Makoto without staring at him without some hidden meaning to it. And if Ryosuke did stare at him, Makoto wouldn't be able to take his eyes off of him. Right now he could only think. But what was he to think? He didn't hate Makoto.

No, no, he could never hate Makoto. They've been best friends since they were children. Technically, since that kiss years ago, but what did he know about how Makoto was feeling? He thought he had a right to be upset. With the way he… pushed it. Another kiss? This time, intentional? Going too far on his part.

When he told Makoto that he remembered, for a moment, he thought the light was shining in his eyes? Had he wanted Ryosuke to remember it so that he could do it for real?

 _It was a mistake…_

 _I want things to go back… to the way they were…_

"Makoto!" a feminine voice asked. Makoto, heading back to his regular class, stopped and turned around. Emi, who seemed to be running before, was bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing fast. She finally stood up and smiled.

"Hey…" Makoto breathed. He took two steps toward her. "You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Emi breathed. "I just had to ask… who it was."

Makoto blinked, "Who do you mean?"

"The girl who… well, you know…" Emi said, almost averting her eyes.

Makoto knew who she was talking about, which "girl" had broken his heart. As he struggled to think of an answer, he dug his hands in his pockets, digging the lint out of the bottom. Then, he shook his head vigorously. A small smile grew on his face.

"It's not important anymore…" Makoto stated. He took a few more steps toward Emi. "Hey, but…"

"But what?" she asked. Makoto swallowed hard before responding.

"Let's go out into town." He suggested. Emi raised her eyebrows.

"Eh?"

"Uh…" Makoto gently rubbed the back of his head. The uneasiness of her response was settling in. Somehow he knew this was going to happen. He almost rejected it and tried to take it back. He thought that he had nothing to say to possibly make the situation better. But without a moment's thought, Emi's eyes shined brightly with her response being, "Yes."

"Why don't you let me buy you something, Emi?" Makoto had led Emi to the shopping district in town.

"Oh? Trying to win me over with gifts I see?" Emi jeered. Makoto looked away, embarrassed, but his tone was deliberate and a little bit higher.

"D-Don't say it like that?" he exclaimed. "It's just… I think it's nice to have a pretty girl where something pretty! That's all!"

Emi's eyes darted to all the different stores: a Taiyaki shop, a boutique, a jewelry store, a wedding gown shop, and a cute little toy store.

"Oh, uh, I dunno..." The two walked shoulder to shoulder, window shopping for a while, until...

"Oh! That's gorgeous!" Emi's breathing grew shallow and she stopped in her tracks to look into the jewelry store.

"Huh? What is it?" Makoto looked, but didn't see anything that looked particularly interesting.

"S-see the aquamarine pendant on that mannequin...?" Emi pointed it out a bit hesitantly.

"Yeah," Makoto examined it curiously, but still couldn't find anything especially interesting about it. "What about it?"

"Aquamarine is the birthstone of March... my birthstone..." Emi blushed. "People say that its good luck to have your birthstone with you at all times..." Emi looked longingly at the beautiful piece of jewelry. "Oh! Sorry! Let's keep going!"

"No, stop! Do you want it or not?" Makoto looked confusedly at Emi.

"Well yeah, but it's going to be expensive..."

"Say no more! A man isn't a man if he can't provide for a woman!" Makoto pointed towards the sky determinedly, holding his pose for dramatic effect before waving childishly. "I'll be right back, Emi! Wait for me, okay?" He ran into the store.

"O-okay..." Emi answered quietly, even though he wasn't there to hear it. She shifted nervously, pulling uncomfortably on the hem of her skirt and then her jacket.

"Uh... hey, Emi... can you come in for a minute?" Makoto beckoned her inside with an embarrassed look on his face. "And bring your wallet, too, if you wouldn't mind..."

In the end, Emi ended up paying two-thirds of the cost of the pendant. She hadn't realized how poor Makoto was, but she didn't really feel bad for causing him to go broke. She was too busy clasping the pendant in her hands, still amazed and excited for all the luck she was going to have in the future.

"Sorry I couldn't pay for it all myself," Makoto muttered, still seeming ashamed. Emi didn't seem to hear him.

"With this, I'll have everything I've ever wanted," Emi mumbled, "I'll be the luckiest girl alive!" Makoto watched her carefully, with as much concern as he had displayed before.

"So... is there anything you're looking forward to after school? Er, Emi…?" Makoto almost seemed to pose it as a serious question.

"Huh...? Oh... you mean, in life? Well, I've always like to help people... I'd thought I study in the medical field... and um..." Emi paused, looking deeply into the aquamarine in the pendant. "I want... to get married..."

"Eh?" Makoto suddenly looked quite interested. "Is there a guy you'd like to marry?"

"Oh, yes!" Emi seemed enthusiastic, but suddenly her face fell and she became very quiet.

"It's okay, Emi, you can tell me!" He flexed arrogantly. "I won't reject you, I promise!" at first, Makoto had meant that line as a joke, but Emi seemed to think he was serious.

"Hah...? Ah...!" Emi looked like a deer caught in headlights. "N-no, Makoto, it's not like that at all—!"

"Stop, stop. Jeeze, I can take a hint," Makoto said, sullenly. He looked rather irritated.

"I'm sorry, Makoto! Please don't get mad," Emi pleaded, on the brink of crying.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Makoto smirked, trying out a line from a movie he had seen. "You owe me," he purred, trying his hardest to sound seductive. He reached for her shoulder, pulling her closer to him before he stopped at the sight of Emi's wide eyes. He let her go and took a few steps back.

"M-Makoto—?" Emi was cut off, suddenly by the jeer in his voice. He tried to avoid his sudden actions as quickly as possible before Emi had a chance to question it.

"I shall not forgive you!" Makoto exclaimed, all while in a pose where his fist in held up in the air. "Unless you're willing to go into that with me!" Makoto pointed to a Purikura1 booth that sat just outside the open arcade.

"Fine with me!"

Emi grabbed Makoto's hand and lead him over to the Purikura. They stepped inside, closing the shoulder length curtain behind them. Makoto inserted the four dollars, followed by the screen lighting up. He used the thick pen to pick the "friendly" theme for the frame.

"Oh!" exclaimed Emi, grabbing onto Makoto's arm.

She held up a peace sign with her two fingers as she stuck out her tongue. Makoto didn't know exactly what to do at a time like this, so he just tilted his head and smiled. When the picture was taken, Emi snatch up the pen and wrote in a pink font "kawaii2" with a yellow starry background.

Then she went ahead and pressed print.

As they walked down the crowded sidewalk, Emi gazed at the picture in absolute awe. She kept on making these cute, squealing outburst that had Makoto on the edge.

"T-They can't be that cute, can they?" Makoto shoved his hands in his pockets with his head hanging low. The all the amusement that Emi was showing, he was surprised that he didn't regret taking the pictures in the first place.

"Makoto, you have to put this on your school binder, okay?"

"Oh hell no!" he gasped.

"…Where should be go next?" Emi asked, finally stopping her cute and childlike banter. "Maybe karaoke! You know, I have a really pretty voice, as most other boys do say… 'I'm fa~lling down into my sha~adow, grasping onto e~very breath, as I await the Deadly night…"

Makoto stopped in his tracks as Emi took slow steps.

She continued singing. "'So sca~ary, but you can't give into this. Fear of pumpkin ca~rraiges, cuz all the witches see it in your eyes..!'"

Emi stopped singing and turned her gaze to Makoto. He was still standing where he had stopped. He kept his hands hidden in his pockets because he didn't want Emi to question why he was clenching his fist.

They were both a few feet away from a glistening water fountain. Emi, smiling, held onto Makoto's arm and walked him to the fountain. They sat down on the edge, quietly.

"This is fun." Emi said, not looking at Makoto. He nodded.

"Yeah, more than I expected." he replied. She smiled and tilted her head in that adorable manner of hers.

"Hey, Emi…" Makoto asked, shyly. He couldn't look at her directly.

"Hmm?"

"Do… um, let's…" he stammered, his face burning red. Emi waited patiently. She knew that he would eventually get to what he wanted to say. "Let's…" he sighed. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it—?"

"Let me kiss you." Makoto said.

He blushed a fantastic shade of red. All Emi could seem to do was let out a short chuckle. Then all together, she stopped upon seeing how hurt and ashamed Makoto had been. She gently cupped Makoto's hand and turned her face toward him. "Oh, I'm sorry for laughing Makoto. I was laughing directly at you, it's just… wow, what a strange thing to ask."

"Well, I don't know…"

"You don't know?" she asked. Makoto froze.

"If it's too awkward, then… is it too awkward?"

Makoto looked around the small area of shops and cafes. There seemed to be little to no people around to be watching them and certainly no one they knew who could laugh. Besides that fact, Emi and Makoto were friends, but not that close.

"No, no, it's not awkward at all." Emi stated.

"Yeah, but really, so you want to?" Makoto felt he needed a straight answer in order to either continue or drop the conversation completely. Emi put her hands on his hands and gazed in his eyes.

"Yes I do." She replied. He ran the tops his fingers over her forehead to push back the strands of hair that represented her bangs. Emi blushed and looked down.

"I can't kiss you if you're looking at the floor, now can I?" Makoto noted, laughter in his voice. Emi blushed again, but did not avert her gaze anymore.

Makoto slowly leaned in, one hand cupping Emi's face, the other used to prop himself up. Emi's eyes quivered with anticipation and nervousness. The slowness was killing her, but she waited. He was slowly filling the gap between her and him. He had to go slow. Partly because he didn't want to surprise her with a giant smakeroo and partly because he enjoyed teasing her.

Emi moaned, impatient. He chuckled, then closed the gap, lips barely touching when…

Emi gasped, her body retracting. Makoto stayed in the same position as he was when about to kiss Emi. He looked into her, her face facing the horizon. Makoto barely moved his eyes to see what had caught her attention to suddenly. And there it was.

Standing before then; Ryosuke, who Emi knew as Nakajima, returning from basketball practice. He stood from afar, shocked still.

"W-What's up?" Emi asked, breaking the silence. She stood up from the fountain and walked over to him. "I haven't seen you around lately… do you have a game tonight, Nakajima?"

"Yeah, we just got back from a meeting…" he answered, his voice dark. "Now what the hell are you guy's doing here?"

"Ah? Oh…"

Makoto stood up and walked to Emi's side. She tried to hide the picture they'd taken together, but Ryosuke caught site of it of beside her hip.

"What is that?" he asked, reaching for it. He took it out of her hand before she even had time to answer. But the picture was all the explanation he needed.

"Whoa, Makoto!" Ryosuke smirked with his knitted brows, "I didn't know you had it in for Watanabe!" Emi snatched the picture back, but Ryosuke held it up to a point where she couldn't reach it.

"Who cares? It's none of your business. Give it back."

Not wanting Emi to show her dark side, Ryosuke shoved the picture in her hands. He then darted his eyes at Makoto.

"Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag…" Makoto sighed. Emi's eyes lit up, but more on the curious side. Ryosuke's glare still remained.

"What do you mean?" asked Ryosuke. Makoto set his arm around Emi's shoulders.

"It's exactly what you think." He said pulling her close, "Emi and I are in a relationship now."

A sharp pain hit Emi in her chest. What in the world was he talking about? Was it that kiss that they almost had? About the late afternoon that they'd spent together, was it, in his eyes, some sort of date? Something like this wasn't even in Makoto's nature, lying or jumping to conclusions.

But Emi wasn't the only one to feel that sharp pain. It had lingered on into Ryosuke's heart as well. He hesitated to take in a breath. He was just as shocked as Emi was. Emi didn't say anything, just recoiled her arms into her chest. Ryosuke, who was gritting his teeth, spoke up.

"Eh? You've got a girlfriend now?" Ryosuke smiled crossly. "I thought there was someone else you liked? What happened to… her?" Makoto knew what Ryosuke was doing, and it wasn't going to work. He wanted to make him know the kind of pain he'd been feeling for the past couple of days.

"Well, she… she rejected me." Makoto stated. Ryosuke flinched, the muscles in his lips quivering with anger. "After I confessed to her, she coldly rejected me. And to be honest, I'm starting to think that I can do better without her. I was fine before I met her, and I'll be fine without her…"

"…I see." Ryosuke said with his teeth together. He glanced down at Emi, but she quickly averted her eyes.

"Even last night," Makoto continued, "Emi stayed over at my place. Isn't that right?"

Makoto squeezed her shoulder to get her to have some sort of positive response, but her entire face turned pink at that moment, her body feeling hot.

"Ah, uh, um…" she couldn't agree or disagree even if she wanted to. She was in too much shock to respond to anything, which caused Ryosuke to assume the worst.

Ryosuke couldn't say anything. If anything, that's exactly what Makoto wanted to see happen. Ryosuke being so shocked he wouldn't be able to say anything. But instead of a look of anger, it turned into a look of depression as he looked to the floor.

"Well, we should be going Emi." Makoto turned her around and walked away from Ryosuke whose eyes remained to the ground. Makoto stopped and turned his head toward him one last time, saying, "Oh, Ryosuke! About that argument we had a while back… try to forgive me, okay. Because I still consider you my friend."

Ryosuke's eyes widened a fraction and looked up, surprise now taking away the depressed look on his face. Makoto and Emi left without another word.

"No, don't leave." Ryosuke whispered. "Please wait…"

But it was no use. He was too choked up on tears to say anything else.

Emi waited until they were out of sight to slap Makoto across the face.

"What the hell was that back there?!" she shouted. Makoto rubbed his cheek, trying to make the stinging pain go away.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry!? Why did you lie to Ryosuke like that? We're not dating and I certainly did not spend the night with you last night!"

"…I'm sorry." That was the only thing that Makoto knew to say. Emi took in a deep breath, letting her head hang low. Why had is all come to this?

"Why did you lie to Ryosuke?" she asked again, this time her tone serious. Makoto's hands began to shake.

"I was… I just… he…" he stammered. Emi waited patiently, but a thought just occurred to her.

"Does Ryosuke have some sort of crush on me? Were you try to make him jealous?"

"That's not it!" Makoto exclaimed. "Not… entirely."

"Then what? Just tell me, Makoto, I don't want to play games here…" Emi said.

Makoto looked down and sighed. His head hurt too much to continue this charade of lies and jealousy. He just stared at the ground, wishing he could breakdown and cry like he wanted to do so badly. His vision blurred and all he could think of was Ryosuke. His feelings for him... it didn't matter now.

"Emi…" Makoto said. He looked into her eyes as he spoke. "Ever since I was a child, it's been strange for me. I could never shake the feeling. Even with someone like you, I still can't feel the same as everybody else. But all in all truth… Emi, I can never be attracted to a woman."

There was a cold breeze that went by. Goose bumps grew across Emi's arms. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? Something like this coming from Makoto's mouth, someone like him? But she finally knew the truth that was so difficult to understand.

Emi's lips formed into a soft smile.

"You're in love with Ryosuke." She stated. She felt the tears gathering up in her eyes. She wiped them away with her finger. "Ryosuke… I get it now. You love Ryosuke."

"Yes." Makoto admitted. He felt the tears burn in his eyes. She couldn't help herself. Emi threw her arms around Makoto's torso and squeezed. Makoto, confused yes, didn't exactly retract from her sudden embrace. Though he understood that her reaction was rather a happy one.

"Oh my, god! This is so sweet!" Emi squealed. "You two would be the perfect couple! No doubt about it!"

"Ryosuke doesn't want anything to do with me." Makoto said. Emi stood back.

"What?" she asked.

"It was a stupid thing to do. Actually, I've done a lot of stupid things." Makoto said. "But I should've lied to him like that. I just want to make him jealous. I assumed that he would show me his, I don't know, 'lovey-dovey' side, but it just didn't happen."

"But is it true though? You've moved on?" she asked. Makoto shook his head.

"No… I haven't." he said. Makoto chewed on the end of his thumbnail. "But… when he found out, his reaction was understandable. It was a mistake."

"No!" Emi said loudly. "It's not acceptable! He broke your heart and he did nothing about it! It's… it's so cruel."

"But it's settled." Makoto stated. "There's nothing I can do about it… I'm terribly sorry for forcing you into it… thanks Emi."

Makoto sent her a silent wave and took a turn to leave. Emi hesitated to reach out and stop him, but Makoto's mind had gone somewhere else now. What could she possibly do now? How could she make the both of them…? Ryosuke and Makoto…?

"Makoto!" Emi called after him. He stopped and turned around. Emi was still standing in the same spot where he'd left her. "Come to Ryosuke's game tonight with me! I can't see you sad like this! The only way to… to understand one another, you need to…" Emi struggled for the right words until she only let out what she was thinking, "You need to confess your love to Ryosuke! The right way!"

That had taken a lot more courage to say than she thought. Her heart was swelling up in her chest with every beat. But what she said was right. Confessing his love for Ryosuke was the only way? Emi assumed that Makoto was think the idea was stupid. But somehow it had to be effective. What's the word Emi was thinking of…? _"Stufective"_?

The only response given to her as Makoto kept on walking was a silent wave of his hand. He didn't turn around and he certainly didn't stop. He just kept walking.

1 Purikura (プリクラ) (Poo-ree-ku-rah) a photo sticker booth or the product of such a photo booth

2 Kawaii (かわいい) (KAH-WAH-ee), "lovable", "cute", or "adorable"


	7. Frayed Threads

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"There was nothing but silence at the dinner table that night. Kaito had invited Riku over to see if she can try and cheer up Makoto. He'd been acting sluggish all morning and ever since he came home. He just stared down at his dinner plate, slowly picking up the noodles with his fork, then carelessly dropping them back down./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"It was so uncomfortable. Even Riku knew something was off./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Why aren't they talking?/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" Riku thought as she took a sip of her water, peeking over to Makoto. Kaito was nervous enough without all the tension between them. He was afraid that he might slip and say something to make him feel worse./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""So, Makoto…" Riku asked as she pushed away her empty plate. "I hear that you've been sick for a couple of days, huh?" she clasped her hands together, leaning in closer. Kaito's hands shook as he glanced back and forth./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oh, um…" Makoto couldn't tell them that he was actually depressed. "I'm all good now. I'm fine Riku, I promise…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Kaito's spirits were suddenly lifted. He dropped his bowl and proceeded to aid in the conversation./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Well, that's great then!" he proclaimed, "And since we have a ton of left overs, you can invite one of your friends over to eat with us! It'll be fun you know…? Kind of like… a party? After all, Riku did all the cooking!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Don't you think that everyone would be having dinner with their parent's, Dad?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Just think of someone who you mostly hang out with!" Kaito said, "How about Nakajima, you know? He comes here often but we don't get to talk. I'd like to meet him again…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""…shut up…" Makoto mumbled. His father blinked. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""What?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto slammed his fist on the table so hard, the cups shook./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Just emshut up/em already! Why're you so selfish!? You're always going on about love! And it's because of emyou/em that I'm feeling this way! All thanks to your emstupid/em love talk! So don't act like you're worried about what's upsetting me! It's all your fault!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto stopped himself before saying anymore. Had that outburst been enough to satisfy himself? Was he finally able to calm down? What exactly had he been mad about anyway? He didn't know himself. He knew that he didn't mean to say that. He just wanted to take his irritation out on someone./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""It's really… my fault?" Kaito asked quietly. Makoto averted his eyes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""No!" he stammered, "It's not…! Just leave me alone!" he ran out of the kitchen and upstairs. He slammed the door to his room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"This is ridiculous,/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" He thought, emI shouldn't have to feel like this./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"This sharp pain in his chest wouldn't go away. He was so angry, but at what? At who? How could anyone understand how he was feeling now?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto glimpsed out of the window… /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke…/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" He thought. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The sky was tar-black and the large clouds were moving towards him. Makoto heard a tapping on the window and then it became a pitter-patter. People ran for cover outside and umbrellas were opened as the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier. The roofs of the cars danced with spray and he could hear the murmuring of the rain through the window. It sounded like the buzzing of angry bees./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"At that moment, he reached in his backpack and fished out his umbrella. He made his way through the dining room, without looking his godmother or his father in the eye, and ran out the front door./span/p 


	8. Cries From The Abyss

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke—number 13— drove the ball to the basket and shot. When the ball bounced off the rim, a player from the other team caught the rebound. He made a fast break down the court and scored a layup. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The crowd of fans roared in the stands. Some cheered on the home team, some booed, but Ryosuke wouldn't let the negativity get to him, or any other distractions./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The ref blew the whistle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke passed the ball inbounds to Number 26 who drove the ball down the court. He passed it back to Ryosuke who shot a three pointer just as the timer made its obnoxious buzz. The ball soared through air and hit the backboard. It bounced and hit the rim. The ball spun around the rim maddeningly. Ryosuke held his breath willing the ball to go through the net. Just as it seemed the ball was gonna fall to the floor, it finally dropped into the hoop. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The home team roared, elated at the 65 to 64 victory they had just accomplished./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Good game Ryosuke!" said Noda. Hibiki rushed up behind him and slapped his shoulder. "Let's go out into the city! We can celebrate the victory!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Sounds legit." Ryosuke said as he nodded his head. Apart of him was so tired all he could think about now was heading home and crashing. He carried his basketball bag over his shoulder as they headed down the stairs./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Hey, where's Makoto?" asked Hibiki. He and Noda kept on walking down the stairs, but Ryosuke was stuck at the top of the stairs. It's like saying his name was a spell that made him stop at any given moment. Shaking away his thoughts of shock, he followed the boys./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I heard he's been skipping out on his classes for some reason. He was here today though," said Noda. "I haven't gotten a chance to see him. What about you, Ryosuke?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke looked toward the floor and shook his head. Hibiki shrugged his shoulders. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Do you think it's a good idea to visit him instead?" asked Noda. "I feel kinda bad for him, since it's out of his character…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke was sick of the Makoto emthis/em and emthat/em talk./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I'm gonna bounce." He said, walking ahead of them. "I gotta head home."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""What?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Hibiki and Noda stopped. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""What's up with you?" asked Noda raising his shoulders. "You don't want to see him? Aren't you worried?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""No, that's not it," proclaimed Hibiki, his thumb under his chin. "You guys are fighting? Yeah, that's it!" he snapped his fingers, as if solving a mystery./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke turned away, pulling his bag more onto his shoulder, jogging down the hallway. He refused to listen to their accusations that meant nothing to him. It had to mean nothing to him, or else he would have to admit to himself of how he felt. How did he feel?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Nakajima!" a voice called out, moments later. He figured it was too high pitched to be one of the guys, so when he turned around… /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Nakajima!" she called out again, waving. Ryosuke's face was of complete shock./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Emi…" he growled. When she finally caught up to him, she was doubled over, breathing as heavy as can be. She stood up straight and stated, "I need to talk to you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Listen, about what happened today, you've got it wrong!" Emi said, "Makoto was making up stuff just to—"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke turned away, "I know." Emi was taken aback. She blinked several times./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""You emknow/em?" she questioned. Ryosuke nodded. Then all together, Emi's mood was enlightened. She clasped her hands together and said, "Then—then you like Makoto, right? You guys can make up now that every things—"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I can't."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Eh?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I said 'I can't'. He's clearly over me now, so there's no point."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Emi struggled to explain. "But—but that's not true!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke's lips quivered. Unable to speak, he began to walk down the hall again. Emi refused to give in. She broke down in a run after him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Nakajima!" she called, "Nakajima! Wait!" she grabbed his jersey to make him stop. "Every thing's alright now! Even though you may not have the same feelings for Makoto, that doesn't mean you can't still be friends! And I'm sure after we clear up the misunderstandings—"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke had stopped listening at that point. His head was too overwhelmed with lies and anger in order to listen. He just felt like he would explode. But he refused to show his tears. Instead, he turned his body around with his fist balled up and hit the locker beside him, "SHUT UP!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As she jumped back to avoid his fist, she discovered that her hands were shaking, but she needed to say what she needed to say. "N-Nakajima, you need to calm down! If you keep letting your emotions get to you, you'll never be able to stay friends!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Can't you tell!?" Ryosuke shouted, dropping his bag on the ground. "I'm still in love with him! Even after all these years! No matter how hard I try, I can't move on from him! But who cares? Things are ruined now! We can't stay friends and there's nothing I can do about it!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke, tormented with confusion, kicked a small trashcan halfway down the hall. Old papers, milk cartons and some food scattered about on the floor. The both of them were silent, Emi cowering from his sudden outburst. But he looked fine now. Ryosuke picked up his duffle bag, slid his hands in his pockets and continued to walk down the hall./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Emi reached out for him, but it was her hand trembling that made her stop. A nervous smile crawled onto her face. She used her other hand to grasp her wrist and held it down toward her chest./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Calm down, you…" she mumbled to herself. She took in a breath, "Let him be… for now…" finally, she released her wrist and walked slowly down the hall./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke found himself in the midst of an empty cafeteria and for a moment, he was alone. He wanted to be alone, away from everyone else. He felt that he was going to snap at anyone who mentioned Makoto. They don't know what he tried to do, how it made Ryosuke feel./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"When he opened the door to get out, his stopped, as Makoto stood before him. The look on his face was grave, wanting to talk to him. He'd been tired of avoiding him and Ryosuke going along with it. It was childish not to solve their own problems./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""You did well during the game." Makoto empathized. "The last shot you made had me at the edge of my—" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke turned away from Makoto and walked passed him into the rain./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Shit, I didn't think it would rain…/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" he thought. Ryosuke stopped at the railing of the concrete stairs. He could take the short cut by walking through the field. But what would it matter, he would still get wet. Soon, everything from his shoulders to his shoes were drenched in the rain./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto walked up beside him. He folded in the umbrella that he carried and set it on Ryosuke's sports bag. He jogged down the stairs, passed the baseball diamonds. He felt something different in his chest. Makoto couldn't help but smile, the muscles around his mouth twitched with nervousness./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"As Makoto made it passed the tennis courts, he heard Ryosuke's foot steps behind him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Did it work?/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" He asked himself. He turned around. Ryosuke shoved the closed umbrella in his hands, eyes darted toward him. Again, he started to walk away./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Eh…?" Makoto didn't know what to say, but he didn't just want to stand there with the umbrella. He marched forward, grabbed Ryosuke's hand and forced him to take the umbrella. Ryosuke threw it back at him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I don't want it." He hissed. The umbrella laid on the floor as the two boys glared at each other. This was starting to piss Makoto off. He reached and grabbed Ryosuke by the collar of his basketball jersey./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Y-You jerk!" he shouted, gripping his shirt harder in his fist. He was so sure that he was ripping out a couple of chest hairs as he went on, but Ryosuke's look remained nonchalant./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""…Let me go," Ryosuke demanded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Whatever you want to say! Say it clearly! To my face, I'm all ears!" he waited for Ryosuke's response, but he only grabbed his wrist, forcing him to release his shirt. Then, out of his left, Ryosuke punched Makoto in the lip./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I don't want to talk to you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto fell on his back, becoming drenched in the rain puddle. After he wiped his mouth, he stood up again, this time charging forward with is fist clenched./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"When he looked up, Ryosuke had broken into a run, down toward the beach./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The small drops of water attacked Makoto's body as he ran across the field and away the school. Focusing on the boy ahead of him he sprinted a bit quicker. His shoes pounded heavily across the ground causing to mud slash up his leg, and stain his new jeans. Makoto took a deep breath reminding himself that it was his own stupidity that had put him in this situation. To busy lying and yelling at himself he didn't notice that he was sliding on the mud until his butt hit the ground with a loud thud. emGreat,/em he told myself, emjust great./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"It wasn't until Makoto got back up on his feet that he realized that Ryosuke was out of his sight. Gone, out of trace. Digging the tip of his foot in the ground, he screamed toward the sky. Where would he go? Ryosuke, he knew him better than anyone. He should know about where he would…/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""That's it!" Makoto exclaimed. Again, he broke down into a run toward the beach./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke sat quietly on the rusty swing in the park on the beach, his sports bag nestled under the slide. He used little effort to make himself go up in the air, but that wasn't the focus. He just wanted to sit quietly in the rain. Why had he gone to this place? Out of all the places he could've gone, why had this one been it? Was this the only place where he could let himself cry?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I'm an idiot." Ryosuke said to himself. He stopped swinging and closed his eyes. "It's a bad day for rain…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Then, heavy footsteps walking in the mud echoed behind him. He reopened his eyes and turned his gaze toward his pursuer. He wasn't shocked to see Makoto again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Makoto…" he said, "I don't get it. What do you want?" Ryosuke stood up from the swing with his fist clenched. "Come to say that you're over me?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Ryosuke…" Makoto breathed./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Did you hear what I told Watanabe?" he asked. He looked passed him and pointed. "What I told her!?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto looked to where Ryosuke was pointing, and hidden behind the mist, he spotted the blonde girl. Emi had followed them here, followed Makoto. She hid behind a tree and a couple of brush. She didn't mean to get herself noticed, but with her around, he figured she could calm down the situation if things got heated up again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I'm still stuck in the past. Did you come to laugh at me?" Ryosuke asked. "Well go ahead, laugh at my feelings all you want…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He waited for his laugh, a chuckle, or even a smile, but Makoto refused to return in command. Ryosuke gritted his teeth./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""I said laugh!" he shouted. "I'm sorry I can't move on! I'm still in love with you after all these years!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Hold on, Ryo—"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Shut up! You don't know how I feel anymore!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto furrowed his brows. "But I do… missing someone so much that it hurts… it took me a while to realize it, but… Ryosuke. There's something… something I still have to tell you—"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""You son of a bitch!" Ryosuke cried. Ryosuke punched Makoto and knocked him down to the ground. He dove on top of him and gripped the collar of his shirt. Ryosuke punched him once, twice, then three times./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Don't want to hear it!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""But I understand now!" Makoto cried, his hands gripping his wrist. "The person who I want to be with! That person is—!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Stop!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke pulled his fist away to dive in for another hit, but Makoto blocked it with his own hand. Makoto kneed him in his ribs and pushed him over onto his back and rolled on top of him/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Stop it!" Emi cried from afar. She walked a couple of steps. "Stop it Ryosuke! Do you know how much Makoto's been suffering because of you!?" she cried. "You're the one that's supposed to be there for him! Be his friend!" Ryosuke slammed his fist against Makoto's jaw once again. As he pulled back for another shot, Ryosuke stopped him, gripping his fist./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""That's enough." Makoto growled with his teeth clenched./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Why didn't you even consider his feelings!?" Emi continued, regardless if they kept fighting. Ryosuke's fist was still being clenched my Makoto's hand. Ryosuke looked toward her, fire in his eyes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""But I did!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""That's bull crap!" Emi snapped, "There's a guy whose got a crush on you, trying to show you how he feels and you don't do a damn thing about it! Weren't you even worried?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Of course I was worried!" Ryosuke cried to her. Ryosuke snatched his fist out of Makoto's hand and slammed it on the wet concrete floor, water splashing in their faces./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Then why did you do something about it, huh?! If you've got an excuse, I'm emdying/em to hear it—!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""It was all because it was emyou/em, damn it!" Ryosuke shouted to Makoto. His eyes shot open, his mouth agape. It was because of him? So anybody else… it would've been different for anyone else? What effect did Makoto have on Ryosuke?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Suddenly, Ryosuke swung his fist against Makoto's jaw. He jumped on top of Makoto and punched his jaw again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Why didn't you just tell me how you felt?" he asked. "You put all that pressure onto me like that! How the hell was I supposed to respond?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Makoto could barely open his eyes without water splashing into them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Sh… Shut up!" he mumbled. Makoto kicked Ryosuke off of him. Soon enough, they were both on their feet./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""You try to kiss me, then avoid me, then try to act like you're my friend?!" Ryosuke asked. "If you've got mixed feelings, then don't throw them onto me! But if you don't, then you better get your shit together, damn it!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke charged forward, his arms outstretched, then threw himself out to Makoto. But neither of the boys were on the ground, exchanging blows. Makoto kept his ground as he embraced him. It wasn't until finally, they both collapsed on their knees, still embracing each other./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Stop it…" Makoto breathed. "I didn't want this… I just… I love you, Ryosuke… I really, really, love you… damn it!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"His eyes were burning and his chest felt heavy as if it were filled with lead. Makoto could no longer see clearly. All he knew was that Ryosuke was gone, out of my life for possibly forever. He was gone. Forever. A drop of water fell onto his hand he looked to the sky and even though the sky had been grey and the rain never ceased to stop, he looked like it was about to break into a heavier downpour. Looking down at his hand again another warm drop appeared and he realized that the liquid was coming from Makoto's eyes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Silent tears rolled down Ryosuke's cheeks. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""This park…" Makoto gasped for breath after sobbing so much, but now he wanted to speak. "This park… it's where we first kissed. Isn't that what brought you here?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Silent tears rolled down Ryosuke's cheeks. He nodded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Why do you guys have to make this so difficult?" Emi breathed. "If you want to be together… then be together…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Ryosuke glanced at Emi, then leaned forward and held Makoto close to him, patting his back. He ran his fingers through his wet, mud filled hair./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .2in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in .0001pt .1in;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;""… I don't get… being in love." He said./span/p 


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